We feel like we've been in the black hole of communication. These last two days we've had no cell phones or Internet. Even the TV has been on rabbit ears and not getting much. It is alright by me...you-know-who has been a little fidgety about it. That too shall pass. We are currently in Clifton, TN, home of author T S Stribling. Seems that he won the Pulitzer prize in 1933. Took us about 20 minutes to tour the museum and downtown. Clifton is a quaint little town with lots of character homes. Marina has wireless but we can't use it on the boat; our slip is just out of range. We are headed to Demopolis, Al. and will be staying at different marinas almost every night. There are just a few days where we will have to anchor out. We should arrive in Demopolis on Sept 8. There are 11 locks and more than 300 miles. We decided that 7.5 mph is the way to go. Yesterday we were booking it at a whopping 10.5 mph and you could hear the engines sucking in gas...burned way too much fuel for only 3 more mph. The highlight of this leg of the trip will be a visit to the battle field at Shiloh on Sunday. Til then we are hanging out, catching up, eating and relaxing.

We have spent most evenings this week planning our voyage south to Demopolis. Looks like we will leave here on Tuesday, Aug 26th and traveling at our blazing 7.5 mph we will arrive in Demopolis on Sept 6th. There are plenty of marinas for us between here and there so we think we'll only anchor out once. The challenge is there are 11 lock and dams, two of which are getting ready to close for repairs on the 10th. Timing is everything. We've been delayed for hours in the past so we are not sure how much time to allow. We will stop and visit Shiloh, home of T S Stribling, and some antebellum homes along the way. That's the plan. For now, we are cleaning, washing, waiting for a volt meter, making lists and checking them twice. Lower helm electronics have been activated and the new winch switch works great. Tumbleweed has been running smooth and given us no grief yet. We want that to continue. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Let us hear from you.

Things here are just so dull...and we are NOT having any fun. Yea, right!!!! If you believe that then you also thought that we really saw Trisha and Garth fishing. We are having a blast. I for one really thought that after a week or two on this boat with no where to get away, I'd be ready to kill someone...but, you know, it just hasn't happened. I did take off for a while yesterday to get a haircut. Sure got my moneys worth...we've been trying to measure and we're not quite sure...but Floyd's hair is just a smidgen shorter than my new look. Which was not really what I was after. Oh, my,...sure hope it'll grow!!!!

We thought we'd have an adventure and scope out the other area offerings. Boy, are we glad to be at Green Turtle Bay. Nothing we saw made us wish we were somewhere else. Our courtesy van took us so close to Fredonia, Kentucky...we couldn't resist. Yes, we did encounter the local law enforcement officer...he was curious as to why someone would be pointing a camera at his house...hep, we had some explaining to do. But, hey, we got the photo of Wilson Street in Fredonia.

We left Dover and Fort Donelson bright and early on the 19th. Decided to make one long day and spend a week at Green Turtle Bay getting those last things repaired, catching up on cleaning and laundry while making plans for our trip down the Tennessee River. So here we are, back in slip 6 on the transient dock. Floyd has his list of repairs and things are going quite well today. We couldn't resist posting one more mansion photo...they call this one the Castle on the Cumberland. Yep, maximum security Kentucky State Prison. Seems that they have put more folks to death than any other prison and are most noted for executing 7 in one day ...July 13, 1928. A record of sorts that still stands today. I thought it looked sort of like a high school....hmm, I wonder why????

After trudging up and down the hills in the heat of the day, we returned to the Tumbleweed for our first swim in the river. We had anchored in large buoyed cove in 13 feet of water. No one was more surprised than me to step off the swim ladder and stand on the bottom. Floyd thought I was joking...but there I was in waist deep water. Now we know why there buoys were there. Needless to say, we were extra cautious leaving ...stirred up quite a bit of mud...but no damage. And it was a nice swim. Can I just say that has been my big disappointment of all this boating. The water makes Cheney and El Dorado seem good. Muddy, stinky, green, full of some sort of crud...since arriving on board July 11, this swim on August 18 is our first. Sure hope it is not the last...I bought new swimsuits!

We have seen what we thought were eagles along this stretch of the Cumberland. At Fort Donelson we got conformation of that and the reason why they are here....